ARUNAS MATELIS RETROSPECTIVE

Ten Minutes Before Flight of Icarus

Year
1990
Country
Lithuania
Duration
10’
Director
Аrūnas Matelis

Director Аrūnas Matelis is convinced that modern viewers don’t need a simple, clearly-outlined plot to understand a story. After all, they are old pros at watching music videos, which lack any clear narrative structure. They can figure out story and meaning much like an eyewitness would, and this is precisely what the director wants to make his audience become. With this short documentary, he generates enough atmosphere to tempt us into wondering what’s going on before our eyes, what’s about to happen. Filmed in Užupis, an old neighbourhood in Vilnius, Ten Minutes Before the Flight of Icarus primarily offers a view of destruction and ruin, but at the same time you can feel something in the air. It is this evocative power that makes Matelis one of the most highly-praised filmmakers in Central and Eastern Europe today.

CREW:
Director: Аrūnas Matelis
Producer: Аrūnas Matelis
Cinematographer: Rimvydas Leipus
Editor: Danutė Cicėnaitė
Sound: Vidmantas Kazlauskas
Production
Lithuanian Film Studio
Sales:
Studio Nominum
Director
Аrūnas Matelis

Аrūnas Matelis was born in 1961 in Kaunas, Lithuania. After directing 10 creative documentary shorts, Arūnas Matelis’s first mid-length documentary Before Flying Back to the Earth received more than 10 awards, including a Directors’ Guild of America (DGA) Award, awards at IDFA Amsterdam, DOK Leipzig, and a nomination for the European Film Award.

Selected Filmography

Selected: Giants of Pelesa (1989), 10 Minutes Before Flight of Icarus (1990), Selfportrait (1993), First Farewell to Paradise (1998), Sunday. Gospel According to Lift-Man Albertas (2003), Before Flying Back to the Earth (2005)

Hall «GEGEMON»
Zhovten cinema
Kostiantynivska St, 26
Q&A with director
Original language with English and Ukrainian subtitles
Hall «ANSHLAG»
Zhovten cinema
Kostiantynivska St, 26
Original language with English and Ukrainian subtitles
22 INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL
 6 — 13 
June 2025
Wonderful Losers: A Different World
ARUNAS MATELIS RETROSPECTIVE
Wonderful Losers: A Different World
Year
2017
Country
Lithuania, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Latvia, UK, Ireland, Spain
Director
Аrūnas Matelis
Duration
71’
ARUNAS MATELIS RETROSPECTIVE
Before Flying Back to Earth
ARUNAS MATELIS RETROSPECTIVE
Before Flying Back to Earth
Year
2005
Director
Аrūnas Matelis
Duration
52’
ARUNAS MATELIS RETROSPECTIVE
The Gospel According to Lift-Man Albertas
ARUNAS MATELIS RETROSPECTIVE
The Gospel According to Lift-Man Albertas
Year
2013
Country
Lithuania
Director
Аrūnas Matelis
Duration
19’
ARUNAS MATELIS RETROSPECTIVE
The First Farewell to Paradise
ARUNAS MATELIS RETROSPECTIVE
The First Farewell to Paradise
Year
1998
Country
Lithuania
Director
Аrūnas Matelis
Duration
15’
ARUNAS MATELIS RETROSPECTIVE
From Unfinished Tales of Jerusalem
ARUNAS MATELIS RETROSPECTIVE
From Unfinished Tales of Jerusalem
Year
1996
Country
Lithuania
Director
Аrūnas Matelis
Duration
26’
ARUNAS MATELIS RETROSPECTIVE
Flight over Lithuania or 510 Seconds of Silence
ARUNAS MATELIS RETROSPECTIVE
Flight over Lithuania or 510 Seconds of Silence
Year
2000
Country
Lithuania
Directors
Аrūnas Matelis , Audrius Stonys
Duration
8’
ARUNAS MATELIS RETROSPECTIVE